Reunion
by SadArticle
Summary: Classic Knight Rider. 'Missing scene' for the third season episode 'Knight of the Drones'. Bonnie Barstow agrees to help Michael Knight, on condition that he doesn't ask her to return to the Foundation - but can she resist after her reunion with Kitt?


Missing scene from 'Knight of the Drones'

_**A/N:**__ Season three. I've always wondered about two 'missing scenes' in this episode – Bonnie's reunion with Kitt, after Michael goes to see her at the university, and why Michael leaves Kitt's recovery to Bonnie after the 'missile' incident (he's a hundred times more solicitous in 'Junkyard Dog'!) This is my attempt to fill one of the gaps. Thanks as ever to sara_merry99, fangirl extraordinaire! _

"We missed you, Bonnie!" Michael Knight told her, wrapping her in a fierce hug. "Oh, we missed you!"

Bonnie held onto him in return, her head tucked neatly under Michael's chin, letting him sway her in his arms. It felt good to have a friend again, even if there was an ulterior motive for his surprise visit to San Francisco. To herself, Bonnie admitted that she had missed him, too; missed everyone at the Foundation – Michael, Devon, Kitt...

Pulling away, Bonnie looked up into his face. "So – did you drive here or hop on a Greyhound bus?"

Michael smiled. "He's outside."

She returned his grin, letting him hold her onto her hands for a moment longer, and then turned and dashed for the door.

"Hey, wait for me!" he called out after her.

***

Outside the sun was brilliant, almost blinding after the artificial lights and computer screens of the lab. Bonnie quickly scanned the parking lot across the road, but couldn't make out the sleek lines of the Knight 2000 amongst the beat-up compacts and practical sedans populating the spaces.

Michael was walking alongside her, his hands stowed in the pockets of his white trousers. Vaguely she wondered why he wasn't dressed in his usual dark jeans and leather jacket, imagining that Devon had probably cut short a planned vacation to send him after this C.J. Jackson.

"You know, I couldn't believe it when Devon said you were here," he said.

Bonnie glanced at him, but he was looking ahead and didn't notice. "You didn't know?" she asked, surprised. She had stayed in touch with Devon, and regularly sent messages to Kitt via the university's computers – why was Michael the only one out of the loop?

He turned to her then. "Not until earlier today. Why?"

She shrugged. "I just thought you knew. I wrote to you."

"One letter to say that you were settled, and a card at Christmas," he corrected her. "I had no idea what you were doing up here."

"Sorry," she offered humbly, "I've been busy. My studies take up most of my time."

"Bonnie –"

She eyed him warily. It had to come out, but she tried to pre-empt him anyway. "Please don't, Michael."

He held his hands up. "I was only going to say it looks like you're doing well," he offered. "Flying to Boston, hey?"

"Not flying, no," she smiled. He knew about her phobia. "And are you surprised that I'm doing well here?"

"Not one bit," he said, meeting her eyes. "Bonnie, I know you don't want to hear it, but I am sorry. About how I behaved when you told me you were leaving the Foundation. Really."

Damn him, he'd managed to catch her off guard anyway.

"Forget it," she sighed.

"No, look –" Michael caught her arm, turning her towards him. "I didn't mean to ruin it for you."

They had reached the shallow steps at the edge of the forecourt, and students were milling around them. Bonnie looked around at the passing faces. "You didn't," she lied, thinking, _You very nearly did_.

"I was just – sorry to see you go."

"I know, you told me," she said impatiently. "We've been through all this, Michael. It's fine, it's water under the bridge. Just don't push your luck, all right?"

He held her eyes for a moment, that light blue gaze strangely intense, and then his face lit up in a familiar smile. "It's a deal," he agreed.

"Now – where is he?"

In reply, Michael raised his watch – the comlink – to his lips. "Buddy, can you meet me outside the science building?"

A small, metallic but wholly recognisable voice came over the two-way connection: "Right away, Michael."

Bonnie pressed a hand over her heart. '_Kitt_,' she mouthed.

Shielding her eyes to look out along the drive, she suddenly felt nervous and excited all at once. How would he be with her? Just before she had left the Foundation, they had shared a heart to heart and Kitt had told her that he understood her decision, wishing her only happiness. But a nearly a year had passed since that conversation, and although he would remember her, Bonnie wondered if his perspective might have changed. Kitt was constantly learning and adapting from experience, and he had been under the care of another technician since her resignation. Would he respond to her in the same open, trusting manner, or treat her as the outsider she had become?

In the distance, she heard the distinctive growl of Kitt's engine at low speed, which smoothed out into a comforting purr as he drew nearer. He looked the same, at least. Carefully manoeuvring the traffic calming system set in place within the main campus, his windows darkened in Auto Cruise mode, Kitt drove up to them.

Bonnie admired anew the beautiful curves of the car, its black shell defined with glinting highlights of blue from the sky above; she might have been back in the Knight Industries research and development building with Wilton Knight showing her the finished machine, for all that her breath caught with wonder and pride at the sight of him.

Kitt pulled up neatly at the foot of the stairs, the red pulse of his scanner tracking rapidly back and forth. "Bonnie!" he called out over his loudspeaker. "It's so good to see you again!"

Bonnie couldn't speak. She looked at Michael, and he nodded at the car. Biting down on her bottom lip, determined not to betray herself, she skipped down the steps and pressed her hand to Kitt's warm hood. "Oh, Kitt, it's good to see you, too," Bonnie said, her voice shaking. "You don't know how much I've missed you!"

Crouching in front of the car, she gently touched the tips of her fingers to the centre of the scanner. The red beam narrowed to a single point beneath her hand, held for a beat, and then resumed its usual oscillation.

Michael stood on the bottom step and watched in amazement. "How did you do that?" he asked both of them.

Bonnie laughed, pushing off from the car's nose as she rose to her feet. "It's an old trick," she told him, adding softly: "Thanks, Kitt."

When it suddenly dawned on her how she must look, kneeling in the middle of the road and talking to a car, Bonnie sheepishly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Michael was laughing to himself, but thankfully he seemed to be an audience of one.

She shot him a dirty look, and then hurried around to the driver's side. Kitt helpfully popped the door open, and she slipped down into Michael's seat. "What say we run over his foot and go for a drive?" Bonnie asked Kitt, smiling into his dash camera to show that she was joking.

"It might cause a bit of a scene," he advised in a low, conspiratorial tone. "Another time, perhaps?"

Sitting in the plush interior of the car brought back vivid memories of working on – and with – Kitt at the Foundation. Bonnie traced her fingers over the smooth curves of the dash, her eyes unconsciously searching for any new functions installed since her departure. He always kept her informed on the experiments that April Curtis kept insisting on – including hydroplaning, or the 'aquatic synthesiser' as the device was termed – but nothing his new technician did to him seemed to distress Kitt unduly so Bonnie kept out of it.

Michael appeared at the passenger window, trying to peer through the tinted glass. "Hey, what are you two plotting in there?"

"Grand theft auto!" Bonnie shouted back. "That yo-yo," she groaned. "Kitt, how's he been treating you?"

"No worse than before," he replied. "We have grown closer over these past eleven months, if that makes a difference."

Bonnie looked towards the side window again, and saw that Michael had strolled away. "It does," she sighed. Michael making a difference was part of the reason she had decided to move on. "And how are you and April getting along?"

"She is a very capable technician, Bonnie," Kitt told her flatly; "an intelligent and creative woman. You made the right choice."

"Kitt, this doesn't mean I'm returning to the Foundation," she blurted. "Just in case you thought –"

"Michael didn't tell me who he was coming to see at the university," Kitt explained. "He only said 'an old friend', and you know what that usually means with him."

Bonnie nodded, laughing.

"I suspect he came to ask you about the CPU from the drone car, considering your field of expertise and convenience of location," Kitt went on. "We're not trying to trap you, Bonnie. At least, I'm not. I didn't expect you to come back to us – I only hoped."

She sank against the pilot bucket and closed her eyes. What was she doing? Michael had been calling her bluff just now, and she fell for it – 'no contracts, no promises, no obligations,' indeed! He knew she wouldn't be able to walk away after meeting with Kitt again; it had taken every last ounce of her will power to leave him the first time.

"Bonnie?" Kitt called her. "Have I upset you?"

"No, Kitt!" Bonnie sat forward again. "Not at all. I was just thinking – do you know what the subject of my admission paper was? I had to write an essay on my experience and background in computer science to qualify for a place on the program." She waited, watching the dark panels of his voice modulator.

"Considering your pivotal role in my creation and development, not to mention my unique status now that KARR has been deactivated, I would reason that you told them about your work with artificial intelligence, namely me," he supplied.

"I never went into specifics, but yes, I used you as my ticket to USF," she said, shaking her head. "How ironic is that?"

"You earned it, Bonnie," Kitt told her. "You deserve every opportunity and every success."

"I've missed you, Kitt."

"I'm glad you're here with us, for however long we have you."

A tap on the window startled Bonnie. She looked up sharply to see Michael standing beside the car, his hand on the glass panel of the roof. "Sorry to break in here, but we've really got to get a move on," he said, leaning over the top of the open door. "That microchip is the only clue we have, and you're the only one who can tell us anything about it, Bonnie."

She glanced at the voice modulator. "Kitt?"

"I have scanned it, Bonnie, but it's complicated," he said. "It needs to be taken apart by someone who is used to assembling computer circuitry. Michael's right, we need you."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "All right, all right," she gave in. "I never could resist a challenge."

Michael stepped back to let her get out of the car. "That's what we were counting on," he grinned. "Thank you, Dr Barstow!"

"Don't get carried away, I haven't done anything yet," she pulled him up. Turning in her seat to step onto the road, Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the dash. "We'll talk again soon, Kitt, OK?"

"I'd like that, Bonnie," he agreed. "You can tell me about your plans for MIT."

"Not that, I'm nervous enough already," she laughed, "but we'll talk. Goodbye, Kitt."

"Goodbye, Bonnie."

She stood facing Michael over the car door. "Why don't you go and get something to eat?" she suggested eventually. "Give me time to get set up in the lab?"

"Can I bring you anything back?" he asked.

"No, thanks," Bonnie grimaced, shaking her head. "I remember the last time you brought me takeout – a foot-long sub with all the trimmings! It would have taken me a week to digest it."

Michael laughed. "That does sound good! Or maybe I should try Chinatown?"

"Just go!" she said, giving him a playful push. "And don't bring any food into the building."

***

On her way back to the science centre, Bonnie stopped on the stairs to watch them drive away. Kitt had returned the windshield to normal, and she saw Michael settling into his seat before starting the engine. He ducked his head around the centre console to look for her, holding up a hand. She waved in return. An eerie sensation of déjà vu gripped her, then – how many times had she seen that black car drive away from her and recede into the distance, leaving her behind like a spare part? Concern for Kitt had turned into irrational envy of Michael, the maverick driver who had stolen her life's work, before finally manifesting as a longing for recognition – and then she knew she couldn't stay in the background any longer. And now here he was again, tempting her with technical puzzles and old feelings; Bonnie wasn't sure if she was ready to work with Michael and Kitt again, however temporarily.

Shutting herself up in the computer lab, Bonnie took stock of the monitors and servers and workstations around her – this was her future. None of the technology in the room was as advanced as Kitt, of course, but she had built him up from hardware and programming and she knew she could recreate her achievement. Returning to the Foundation, for all the people there who were dear to her, would be a step backwards.

The motherboard that Michael had tossed to her – like a bone, she thought – still lay amongst the wires and components on her workbench where she had set it aside earlier. Bonnie was intrigued, in spite of herself; Michael had called it a 'drone' car, but did that mean that it was teleoperated, or fully autonomous like Kitt?

"You owe me one, Michael Knight," she muttered to herself, and then set to work.

FIN


End file.
